


Everything Led Me to You

by ellacj



Series: 52 Weeks of Swan Queen [27]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Red String of Fate, Soulmates, pretty fluffy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-03
Updated: 2015-07-03
Packaged: 2018-04-07 10:03:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4259196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellacj/pseuds/ellacj
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart."</p><p>-Marcus Aurelius</p>
            </blockquote>





	Everything Led Me to You

When Emma was seven, a man came to her in a dream. He told her many things, most of which she’s long since forgotten, but one thing has stuck with her through the years. The strange man took her on a journey.

“Look to your ankle,” the man says in a voice made of mist.

Emma does. There’s a thin red thread tied around her leg, one she’s never noticed. And yet, she can tell it’s been there for a long time. Maybe even her whole life. “What is it?”

“The other end is attached to another. The person on the other end is the person you will one day fall in love with.”

“I’m never gonna fall in love. It only makes people sad.”

“Come with me.” And he holds out his hand and it flickers and moves as though it’s not even there at all. But, when Emma takes it, it’s solid in her grasp and she’s taken to another land.

The girl on the other end of Emma’s thread is a little older than her, maybe eleven or twelve, and she wears her dark hair in a long braid down her back. She’s grooming a horse with a thick-bristled brush. The sight of her makes Emma’s heart skip a beat or two. “That’s her?” she whispers. “I’m gonna fall in love with her?”

At the man’s nod, Emma feels the rage boil inside her. She’s _not_ going to fall in love. She’s seen what that does to people. She won’t let herself get hurt like that. The string on her ankle won’t break no matter how hard she pulls or rubs it against the rough bark of a tree.

“The string is unbreakable,” the man tells her. “This is your destiny.”

In a fit of rage, Emma picks up a rock and throws it as hard as she can at the girl connected to her. It connects with her lip hard enough to draw blood. Emma turns away. “I’m never gonna fall in love,” she says in a voice as small as she feels. “And no one’s ever gonna love me.”

 

“Where’d you get that scar on your lip?” Emma asks.

Regina smiles to herself. “That’s a funny story, actually. I was about thirteen. I was grooming my horse and out of nowhere someone threw a rock at me. By the time I went to see who it was they were gone.” She shrugs. “Of course, Mother tried to convince me I somehow deserved it. I still don’t quite know what happened.”

“Oh, god,” Emma breathes. “It’s you.”

“What?”

“Have you ever heard the story of the Red String of Fate?” Emma pours herself one more glass of wine. This could be a long story.

Regina furrows her brow. “I can’t say that I have.”

Emma sips her drink. “It’s a Chinese myth. Did you guys have legends and stuff from other cultures in your world?”

“There were some. Mostly they resided in lands outside the Enchanted Forest. I believe the people of the Chinese myths resided in a place called the Middle Kingdom in the North.”

“This story took place in my world.” Emma squirms in her seat. “I know it _really well_.”

Regina frowns. “You think it’s you?”

“I know it sounds crazy.”

“Tell me the story.”

“Really?”

“If you think it’s about you, I want to know it.”

Emma feels her cheeks grow warm. “It’s pretty simple. Some god came to a little boy in a dream and told him about the Red String of Fate. It’s this thing where two people are connected by this infinite red string tied around the ankle and it means that someday they’re gonna fall in love. And so the boy got really upset and said he was never gonna fall in love and threw a rock at her.”

“Well, that’s not the best reaction.”

Emma smirks. “Like twenty years later the boy is getting married, and since it’s an arranged marriage, he didn’t meet her until the wedding day. And he sees that she wears this decorative bead thing over her eyebrow and so he asks why and she says it’s because when she was a kid some boy threw a rock at her, so she covers the scar with that thing. So even though he didn’t want it to, the string led him to his true love in the end.”

Regina smiles. “That’s a sweet story. But how would it be yours?”

“When I was seven I had a dream about a strange man. He showed me this red string tied around my ankle and brought me to see the person I was gonna fall in love with.”

Realization comes over Regina’s face, but still Emma continues.

“I got really upset because I was afraid to fall in love. So I threw a rock at the girl he showed me.” Slowly, she reaches out and cups Regina’s face in her hand, running a gentle thumb over the scar above Regina’s lip. “It hit her right about here.”

Regina swallows once. “So we’re fated to be together.”

“I don’t think it’s about fate. I think it’s more about… choosing who you love and the string just sort of guiding you to the person it knows you’re gonna choose.” She shrugs. “That’s a shitty way to explain it, but yeah.”

“Do you really think we’re the people in that story?”

Emma takes both of Regina’s hands in a gentle grip. “I don’t know if it’s you. I’d like it to be you.” She sucks her bottom lip between her teeth. “But even if it’s not, I’d still like us to be together.”

Regina’s face breaks into a smile, and for the first time in longer than should be, she looks truly happy. “I think I’d quite like that, too.”

“Cool.” Emma grins. “That’s really cool.”

“Yes,” Regina agrees with a chuckle. “It is very cool.”

So maybe they’re destined to be together, maybe they’re not. Maybe they’ll never know. Maybe they’ll grow old and find one day that there’s been a red thread connecting them by the ankle all along. Or maybe they’ll last a long time and discover that their strings lead them in opposite directions. Even if that does happen, they’ll still have been together long enough to make some killer memories.

And that’s pretty cool, too.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm very excited to announce that I'll be participating in the 2015 Swan Queen Week, and submitting all of my entries in a seven-chapter work updated daily for Week 28!! Swan Queen Week will be July 12th-18th, and I'll post Week 29 as normal after its conclusion.
> 
> Another fun fact, the last day of SQ Week (July 18th) is my birthday, so that's fun too :D


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